Knowing the Unknown
by theinsincere
Summary: She only wanted to see the legendary Marauders, to visit Hogwarts before the war, but this Potterhead's knowledge of the future, a prophecy concerning them all and her inability to speak in critical situations means a whole load of mischief, danger and heartbreak as she makes a deal with the devil she will come to regret. No Slash. Canon-compliant.


Azkaban Prison -1982

'You knew didn't you?'  
Silence.  
'Answer me. That's why when you looked at us, your eyes were filled with pain. That's why that night, all those years ago, when you were talking to yourself in the bathroom you were crying. Not because of homesickness, not because of the unknown, quite the opposite really, it was because of what you _did_ know.'  
Silence.  
'You knew. You knew'.  
He kept repeating the same words till they lost meaning.  
The apparition sat in a corner of the dark, damp cell. His words echoed, resounding against the wall only to be lost to the deafening crashes of the sea surrounding the fortress.

She refused to look at him or acknowledge his words. She had realised that it was a prison, the soulless guards tormenting the prisoners into insanity; all feeling was forced out of one's mind leaving them to relive the worst experiences of their life. What she had not realised was the worst kind of torture, one that was inescapable as it was the making of one's own conscious.

Why?' his voice shattered her train of thought and drew her back to the reality.

After an eternity of avoiding his gaze she forced herself to look him in the eye, he of all people deserved the truth, his whole reason for being in this soul destroying, wretched place was because of the truth. The truth which remained unknown.  
She had expected anger, fury, resentment, hell she would rather have faced those reactions instead of the look of hurt, pain and slight insanity residing in his grey eyes. She winced as she examined his face, which, despite the effects of the prison and its sentinels, was not beyond recognition. Behind the façade of indignation and despondency, it was still him, witty, facetious, humorous, serious Sirius.

'I'm sorry' she whispered.  
Finally she spoke. And how he wished she hadn't. He hadn't heard her voice in an eon, and it involuntarily lured old memories of a life once lived, a life that was so far away he wondered if it was a figment of his imagination if not for three worded mantra. .INNOCENT.  
The dementors sensed emotions and immediately they flocked towards his cell eager to feed on the last shreds of humanity he had within him. He suddenly realised he should have told her about them, in fact he was about to had it not been for the peculiar event which subsequently transpired. As per usual they drew closer to the source of the emotions, but unexpectedly as soon as they approached him, close enough to partake in their ritual, they were repelled suddenly by a great force, emitting from the corner of his cell.

'I act as a partonus' she answered his unasked question, evident by his bewildered expression.  
'They can't approach you whilst I am here.'

He somewhat regained his composure. 'You still haven't answered my question'.  
She moved forward, walked towards him and shrugged of the shadows which had blanketed her. He noticed that there were tears streaming down her face, her pale green eyes bloodshot, red, her mouth trembling and her small frame shuddering, not from the cold but from the heartbreak evident on her face.  
'I couldn't. I couldn't'.  
Her response did not satisfy him. He figured that much on his own. But that was not his question and she knew it.  
'Why did you come? Why did you enter our past when you knew our future? Don't give me any of that 'I was forced to' crap. You may have been forced to come, but your actions, they were not compelled, they were entirely your own.'  
'I'm sorry' she repeated.  
More tears.  
'I wanted to.. I mean I had no choice…'  
More tears.' _Jeez did she ever run out' _he thought.  
'I… couldn't. The rules. The conditions, they forbade me… I couldn't.'  
More tears. Her half answers only left more questions. And what was with the tears, they were really getting on his nerves.  
'Will you stop crying' he snapped, louder than intended. She flinched but didn't move away.  
'I'm sorry' she whispered.  
' And stop with the apologies. Can't you just stop and tell me the truth for once. The whole truth!'  
He realised he was yelling but it didn't matter, the other prisoners would just think he was crazy and the dementors couldn't approach because of her.

'Okay. The truth. Well um… it's a bit complicated' she looked at him nervously. She wasn't scared of him per se, but she was still reserved from his last blow out and didn't seek to aggravate him even more.  
He merely grunted, indicating for her to continue.

'Well first you need to know that I am… well I am not from here. Obviously you already knew that, but what you don't know is that well in my world there's no magic.'

He turned his head to look at her directly, she ceased crying but her eyes were still red. He absorbed the knowledge better than he expected, surprising himself. He figured that she had knowledge of the future but he did not know _how_ she knew. Now without magic in her world what possible explanation could she have to explain the origin of this knowledge?

'and because there's no magic,' she continued ' it is a mystery to us, we can only guess what it is like to experience magic and therefore we are attracted to any indication of it, it's an obsession and ahh… well many genres of literature are dedicated to exploring this unknown phenomenon'.

Her explanation was a bit vague, it did not seem to point to anything in particular, it was almost a justification. But Sirius was smart, he always has been and even Azkaban couldn't hinder his deduction skills, he knew where she was getting at but it seemed unlikely and well absurd to say the least.  
'So you're saying that our lives, I mean this entire world, magical and muggle is well a story, a book?'  
He laughed at her confirmation, his voice resonated the walls of the jail cell. His manic laughter was unsettling, his eyes bright the instability of his mind was apparent but his face was joyful, his features were almost kind had it not been for the underlying lunacy which accompanied them.

To say she was unnerved was an understatement. Even as he sat in the damp darkness, his clothes filthy and stained, he managed to express superiority and some sort of authority and seeing him in an almost deranged state only made that feeling increase.

Desperate to explain herself she continued her tale. ' Well yes, and I think that as illogical as it seems, the only explanation I have come up with is that somehow I managed to travel to your world. I don't think I have somehow been transported into the book; it seems to me that someone knows your story, all of your stories, future and past and has recorded them as books. It's ludicrous I know but it seems that the books were published in my world and also were made into films, but my point is that time travels differently and I think that I didn't travel to the past simply a different world where time progresses at a different rate, as the technology and infrastructure are not too far apart.

Sirius stopped laughing and considered this, weighing the pros and cons. hypothetically it could be true; I mean time travel was possible so why not travel between worlds_. Naturally the girl's crazy but I have time so I think I'll indulge her delusions. I mean I've probably lost it, and she does keep the dementors away, maybe she knows a way out of here. This may also answer some questions about the past and I am rather curious. _

'Ok so how does this fit into your story, I mean how your world fits into you coming to our world. I don't exactly understand.'

'As I told you I managed to somehow enter your world and well it was because I wanted to meet you guys. I mean the books were not about your time, rather about the reign, defeat and death of Voldemort,' she finished rather calmly not even flinching or hesitating with the Dark Lord's name.

Sirius was beginning to suspect that there was more to this, as far as he could gather Voldemort was defeated on that fateful night. But that did not necessarily mean that he died, in fact why would she use plural books? If Voldemort was truly defeated that day why would more than one book be needed to explain this? What worried him even more was the conclusion he gathered from his deductions, somehow they had not yet heard the end of the He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and he knew this had something to do with his godson, Harry Potter.  
'Does this have anything to do with Harry?' he asked apprehensively.

' Ah so you figured it out. Always a sharp one Sirius Black. To answer your question, yes it does concern Harry, and undoubtedly you've inferred the Voldemort is not dead.' She smiled weakly.

'But do not worry yourself about events which are yet to transpire. Console yourself with the fact that he will meet his end. Anyway back to your story and mine, well the books do not go into detail about the era of the Marauders but your bravery and sacrifice is known.

' As are our fates?' he stated more than asked.

She nodded in agreement, a flash of sadness visible on her face, tears threatening to spill, but she quickly brushed them away. 'Anyway all of the Marauders in some way or other are responsible for the downfall of Voldemort but I was fascinated by your lives before the first war, I realised that you all had lived before the war which forced you to take sides against your peers, your friends…  
'Your family' he supplied in a hollow voice.  
'Regulus' she stated simply. He looked away and she understood.  
'Anyway I was captivated by your friendship, your brotherhood more than anything. And I wished I could experience it first hands. You were legends, even though you weren't the main subject of the books. Actually I take that back, one of the books was named after you.'

He looked at me with disbelief and intrigue. ' Really? The title was Sirius Black?'  
' Not exactly, no but it was a moniker pertaining to you. I mean it was hardly Bellatrix.'  
'What? Bellatrix?'

'Never mind, the point is that I managed to somehow enter your world. But as always there was a catch. Conditions of sorts. I could not speak of the future, to anyone, I had to let things take there course or else I faced punishment. I could not give knowledge to anyone, even if others were aware of it. I could not in anyways aid or hinder the timeline, I had only a limited amount of time in which I could stay in your world and my actions had to coincide with what was to happen. '  
'Couldn't you write it down or give hints' he asked

'Nope that would be speaking of the future, grave consequences. Basically I had to let it happen no matter what.'  
'One question, these consequences or punishments what did they involve?' Sirius asked tentatively.  
She winced. She could still remember the pain it caused her. 'Ah… I'd rather not say but I will remind that at times did you find yourself not able to understand me? As in I was speaking but it was not comprehensible.'

Sirius nodded. He remembered but she had brushed him off, telling him not to worry about it. He thought she was being odd but didn't think much of it.  
'Yeah well every time I said anything that broke any of the rules I would start talking some archaic language, Merlin himself didn't know. I could understand myself, and I knew I was speaking another language but it seems no one else could.'

'Okay so why don't you start at the beginning. I don't fully understand the circumstances in which we met.'

She gave him a hesitant look.  
'Although I can't say I was disappointed either' he said raising an eyebrow.  
' Not even Azkaban can change Sirius Black's suggestive insinuations' I remarked resignedly


End file.
